Pope Leo’s message to young people at Tor Vergata: "Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are"

"Dear young people, aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. Then you will see the light of the Gospel grow every day, within you and around you."

Thus Pope Leo ended his homily at the Mass for the Jubilee of Young People, which he presided over at Tor Vergata in Rome last Sunday, August 3, before a million pilgrims from all around the world. Those two days which the young pilgrims spent at Tor Vergata, will remain etched in the memories of a million young men and women.

The young people had  arrived at the large esplanade on the morning of Saturday, August 2, spread out their groundsheets, put down their heavy backpacks, and joyfully awaited the beginning of a long afternoon of music, testimonies, and prayer. At 2:00 pm, entertainment began on the central stage, with 20 bands from round the world performing for the young people. At 5:00 pm, the prayer vigil began, with testimonies, performances by Christian bands, and reflections on the themes of friendship, courage in making decisions, and spirituality.

At 7:20 pm, a roar went up as the crowd greeted Pope Leo's arrival by helicopter. The Holy Father then took to the popemobile and immersed himself in the embrace of the young people with a long drive through the esplanade, greeting the crowds to the music of Don Marco Frisina, performed by the choir of the Diocese of Rome, and conducted by the composer himself. Leo XIV climbed the steps to the large stage carrying the Jubilee Cross and was accompanied by 200 young people representing countries from all around the world. The vigil then opened with three young people asking the Pope questions:

·         How can we find sincere friendship and genuine love that leads us to true hope?

·         Where do we find the courage to choose?

·         How can we truly encounter the risen Lord in our lives and be certain of his presence even in times of trial and uncertainty?

"As Saint Augustine says: 'No friendship is authentic if it is not in Christ,'" the Holy Father said in response to the first question from Dulce María, a young Mexican woman. "Friendship in Christ is not just helping others build the future; it is our guiding star. (...) Dear young people, love one another! Love one another in Christ. Know how to see Jesus in others. Friendship can truly change the world. Friendship is a path to peace."

To Gaia's question about the risk of choosing, he responded with these words: "The courage to choose comes from love, which God shows us in Christ. It is He who loved us with all of Himself, saving the world and thus showing us that the gift of life is the path to personal fulfillment. Therefore, the encounter with Jesus corresponds to the deepest longings of our hearts, because Jesus is the Love of God made man."

The final response was to a question from Will, aged 26, from the United States. "Do you truly want to encounter the Risen Lord?" the Holy Father asked. "Listen to His word, which is the Gospel of salvation! Seek justice, renewing your way of life, to build a more humane world! Serve the poor, bearing witness to the good we always desire to receive from our neighbor! Remain united with Jesus in the Eucharist. Adore the Eucharist, the source of eternal life! Study, work, and love in the manner of Jesus, the good Teacher who always walks beside us."

The young people then spent about 40 minutes in Eucharistic Adoration, gathered in silence before the monstrance – the same one which had been used for prayer by Saint John Bosco and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.

The crowds spent the night at Tor Vergata, and on Sunday morning the Pope once again joined them on the esplanade around 7:30 am, and at 9 am Mass began, with over 7,000 concelebrating priests, 400 bishops, and 25 cardinals. "Dear friends, we are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and fixed, but for an existence that is constantly regenerated in giving, in love," the Holy Father said during his homily, commenting on the day's readings, from the Gospel of Luke, with the episode of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

“And so we continually aspire to something more that no created reality can give us,” he added, “we feel a great and burning thirst, so great that no drink of this world can quench it. Faced with this thirst, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to quench it with ineffective substitutes! Let us listen to it, instead! Let us make it a stool on which we can climb, so that we can look out, like children, on tiptoe, at the window of our encounter with God. We will find ourselves before Him, who awaits us, or rather, who knocks gently on the window of our soul (cf. Rev 3:20). And it is beautiful, even at 20 years of age, to open our hearts wide to Him, to allow Him to enter, and then to venture forth with Him, toward the eternal spaces of infinity.”

At the end of Mass, the Pope invited young people to meet up again in Seoul in 2027 for World Youth Day. “After this Jubilee, the ‘pilgrimage of hope’ continues for young people and will take us to Asia! I renew the invitation that Pope Francis extended in Lisbon two years ago: young people from all over the world will gather together with the Successor of Peter to celebrate World Youth Day in Seoul, Korea, from August 3 to 8, 2027. This Day will have as its theme, ‘Take courage: I have conquered the world!’”

And so it was that young people, set out on a thousand return journeys as their Jubilee concluded and will continue to be “pilgrims of hope” to the ends of the earth.